Wyoming Area starter Jacob Snyder pitched 6.2 innings with 13 strikeouts and combined with Alex Vacula to no-hit Lake-Lehman.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Lake-Lehman’s Jake Evans is tagged out trying to steal second base by Wyoming Area’s David Fath in the second inning.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Lake-Lehman starting pitcher Sam Finarelli held Wyoming Area to three hits in five innings of work.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area second baseman David Fath fields a grounder in the fourth inning.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Lake-Lehman center fielder Jake Naugle makes a catch of a flyball in the first inning off the bat of Wyoming Area’s Alex Vacula.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Ben Rogish races to third base after hitting a triple in the third inning.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Lake-Lehman’s Tanner Evans makes a throw to first for an out in the second inning.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
WEST PITTSTON — If Wyoming Area is going to remain in contention for the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 title, it’s going to need some pitching performances like on Tuesday.
Asking another hurler to do what Jacob Snyder did against Lake-Lehman would be a tall task.
Snyder pitched 6.2 innings of no-hit ball with 13 strikeouts and reliever Alex Vacula finished off the game with another strikeout as the Warriors posted a 2-0 victory.
Snyder had one ball hit out of the infield — a flyout by Lehman’s Scott Egbert to end the third inning. The junior lefty struck out six Black Knights looking at the third strike.
If not for an error in fifth which cost Snyder five additional pitches and losing the strike zone in the sixth, he would have had a chance to finish off the no-hitter.
Instead, Vacula fanned the final batter after Snyder reached his 100-pitch maximum.
Snyder’s only issues came in the sixth. A walk, hit batter and another walk loaded the bases with one out.
“I fell out of rhythm, honestly,” Snyder said. “Then I bounced back and recovered pretty good. It wasn’t like I was missing all over the place. I kind of fell out of rhythm.”
A chopper to Vacula at third led to a forceout at home. Snyder then recorded a strikeout and two more in the seventh before departing.
The victory allowed Wyoming Area (6-1 Div. 2, 7-6 overall) to keep pace with idle Holy Redeemer (7-0 Div. 2, 11-1). The two teams play at Wyoming Area on Saturday afternoon and again on the following Tuesday. The Warriors, though, have to take care of Hanover Area on Wednesday and Berwick on Friday before then.
“If you looked at our stats, we’ve divvied up the innings pretty evenly throughout to try to save him and Vacula and some of our other guys for the back stretch here,” Wyoming Area coach Rob Lemoncelli said. “This is the best he looked all season. He commanded the zone right out of the gate and got ahead of almost every hitter.”
Wyoming Area took a 1-0 lead in the second when Ben Rogish tripled into the right-field corner and scored on a throwing error on an infield single by Cody Meade. Meade knocked in Rogish in the sixth with a lined single to left.
Lehman has been shut out in its last two games, managing just one hit.
“That’s literally what we just had the conversation about,” Lehman coach Mike Sholtis said. “How the heck do we change this now? The whole team is just in a slump. Pitching-wise, we’ve been in every game.”
Wyoming Area 2, Lake-Lehman 0
Lehman`AB`R`H`BI
Egbert 2b`2`0`0`0
Sholtis rf`1`0`0`0
Jenkins c`2`0`0`0
Finarelli p`3`0`0`0
Weaver cr`0`0`0`0
T.Evans ss`2`0`0`0
J.Evans dh`2`0`0`0
Purdy ph`1`0`0`0
C.Smith lf`0`0`0`0
Morris 1b`3`0`0`0
Voelker 3b`2`0`0`0
L.Smith ph`1`0`0`0
Naugle cf`2`0`0`0
Totals`21`0`0`0
Wyoming Area`AB`R`H`BI
Snyder p`3`0`1`0
Rushinchak lf`2`0`0`0
Vacula 3b`3`0`0`0
Fath 2b`3`0`0`0
Rogish rf`2`2`2`0
Meade dh`2`0`2`2
DeLucca cf`0`0`0`0
Layland c`3`0`0`0
Speicher 1b`3`0`0`0
Yatsko ss`2`0`0`0
Totals`24`2`5`2
Lake-Lehman`000`000`0 — 0
Wyoming Area`010`001`x — 2
3B — Rogish.
Lehman`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Finarelli (L)`5`3`1`0`2`2
Morris`1`2`1`1`0`0
Wyo. Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Snyder (W)`6.2`0`0`0`4`13
Vacula (S)`0.1`0`0`0`0`1
